What Began At the End
by Taneya
Summary: When the world is ending and you’re the last being alive, it seems hard to hold out hope for the future; but you should never underestimate the mischievousness of a fox, or the power of of a demon. Though even Naruto can only handle so much. Time travel
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The 'time travel' idea is shared among many fanfiction authors and whoever came up with the orginial idea. I own nothing. Don't bug me about it.

_**What Began At the End**_

**Chapter One: A New Beginning**

(It All Falls Down/Shaken to Pieces)

"Here we are Kyuubi. Here at the end of all things.(1)" Naruto spoke aloud, even though the only one around to hear him was the demon in his head. Fire fell around him, and he watched the world die from inside his sphere of chakra that was both his own and not his own. He was suspended in the middle of the sphere, and the sphere itself was floating a few hundred meters above the blackened, bare ground. Lava crawled over the landscape, trees catching fire and falling to the ground before it even touched them, the superheated air plowing ahead of the lava's destructive path. Hurricanes blew ash around in the air while water evaporated and fell from dark grey thunderheads. Lightning struck without mercy, frying whatever hadn't been destroyed already.

Naruto watched with mixed emotions as the Akatsuki leader's last curse ravaged the land. He and Naruto had been locked in battle, the rest of the Akatsuki and Naruto's friends battling each other as the leaders of the opposing sides fought. Pein(2), the leader of the Akatsuki, was a fierce opponent. He had to be, to be able to order people like Uchiha Itachi to do his bidding. Naruto, however, had the power of the nine-tailed fox on his side, and the battle had been slowly tipping in his favor as Pein began to tire. Knowing he was losing, he unleashed his ultimate attack in an attempt to take Naruto down with him. He had used all of his chakra, and had died as soon as the jutsu was released. The technique was one that no one, not even the Kyuubi, had ever seen before. It called up a string of volcanoes out of the ground; volcanoes that, even as they rose, spewed forth hot lava and ash and blew out large boulders. The remaining Akatsuki and Naruto's friends (the few of them that had survived to participate in this last battle) were cooked by the superheated air before their bones blackened and crumbled and were consumed by lava. Naruto was only saved because the Kyuubi had created the chakra shield as soon as it saw the volcanoes rising out of the ground.

Everything was happening so fast; he couldn't even cry as he saw his friends die. He couldn't even speak. He floated in the sphere of chakra, watching in horror as the sudden creation of the volcanoes set the planet off balance. He could see more volcanoes rising in the distance, his vision enhanced by Kyuubi's chakra. He could hear the vibrations of the earth and smell the scent of burning things and wet air, even through his bubble of chakra. He hadn't been able to do anything as he saw the rubble that was left of Konoha burn to the ground, and it weighed heavily on his heart even though the all people had left long ago. He couldn't turn away from it, and it soon looked like the rest of the ravaged landscape.

"Kyuubi…" he said after a time. "What will I do?" He closed his eyes and curled into himself, trying to block out the horrors rampaging outside his protective bubble. "I'm…the last person in the world, aren't I?" he asked, sounding a little hysterical. "Even if others are still alive, they will soon be dead. What can I do?" He looked at his shaking hands, his slightly folded fingers covered in blisters and dirt and blood. He brought his hands up to his face and shut his eyes, bending his fingers weakly. He pressed his hands into his closed eyes as a cloud of ash came roaring at him, causing the sphere to shake.

"They're all gone Kyuubi. What's the point of staying alive if they're all gone?" he wailed.

"CALM YOURSELF, KIT." Naruto continued to curl into himself, moaning. "I KNOW A WAY TO FIX THIS." Naruto looked up hesitantly, almost as if he hardly dared to hope.

"You do…?"

"YES. IT WILL BE PAINFUL, I MUST WARN YOU OF THAT. NOT ONLY IN THE PHYSICAL SENSE, ALTHOUGH THAT IS A FACTOR, TOO." Naruto merely had a confused, slightly hopeful expression. "I KNOW A JUTSU THAT WILL TAKE YOU BACK IN TIME."

"What?" Naruto said, shocked. "Does such a jutsu even exist?" 'How could it?' he thought. 'Everyone would want to go back in time to fix their mistakes…'

"THERE'S A REASON PEOPLE DON'T GO BACK IN TIME EVERYDAY, NARUTO." Kyuubi said. "YOUR MIND WILL MERGE WITH YOUR PAST SELF, AS I AND MY PAST SELF WILL MERGE. IT WILL BE AN INCREDIBLY PAINFUL PROCESS THAT MAY DRIVE YOU MAD. IT ALSO TAKES AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF CHAKRA, SO MUCH THAT FEW HUMANS WOULD EVEN ATTEMPT SUCH A FOOLISH ENDEAVOR."

"But I don't have that kind of power, and most of your power was sealed to my spirit a long time ago! I can't merge that chakra to my own to use it unless – no… you can't be thinking to – "

The fox chuckled, but it was dry, with little humor in it. "YOU CERTAINLY AREN'T THE FOOL YOU ONCE WERE, KIT. YES, WE WILL DIE." Naruto could only sit there in shock, suspended in the chakra sphere as the chaos around him grew. "YOU WOULD DIE ANYWAY, IF WE DID NOTHING. YOU WOULD DIE OF THIRST OR HUNGER OR A LACK OF AIR, AND I WOULD DIE WITH YOU. WE WOULD ONLY BE WAITING FOR THE END AS WE WATCHED THE WORLD END ALL AROUND US. THE CHAKRA NEEDED FOR THIS IS SO GREAT THAT EVEN A BEING SUCH AS I COULDN'T HOPE TO SEND BACK A PHYSICAL BODY. IT WILL USE EVERY BIT OF CHAKRA WE HAVE—INCLUDING OUR LIFE FORCES—FALLING JUST SHORT OF USING OUR SOULS."

"No, no…Kyuubi, we can't!" Naruto protested. "I refuse to take a coward's way out!"

"KIT!" Kyuubi roared. Naruto flinched. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS A COWARD'S WAY OUT!" he bellowed, a snarl creeping into his words. "THIS IS NOT SUICIDE! THIS IS ONE OF TWO OPTIONS. EITHER WE SIT HERE AND WAIT TO DIE, OR WE DIE ON OUR OWN TERMS AND MAKE SOME USE OF IT!

"DON'T WASTE THIS CHANCE TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS," Kyuubi admonished more quietly. "YOU'LL HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE CHANGES YOU MAKE, BUT YOU AREN'T THE LAST BEING ALIVE FOR NOTHING."

"Hey…you said 'I'll have to be careful'…aren't you coming back with me?" Naruto asked suspiciously, silently cursing the shaking in his voice.

"YES, KIT, BUT I WON'T BE ABLE TO SPEAK TO YOU UNTIL I FULLY MERGE WITH MY PAST SELF. I WILL BE ABLE TO HEAL YOU AND POSSIBLY LEND YOU A LITTLE CHAKRA, BUT I WILL BE MOSTLY CUT OFF FROM YOU UNTIL I HAVE FULLY MERGED."

"But what about me? Will it take a shorter time for me to merge?" Naruto asked dubiously, and Kyuubi chuckled darkly.

"YES. THAT IS THE REASON IT WILL BE SO PAINFUL FOR YOU. YOU WILL MERGE WITH YOUR PAST SELF ALMOST INSTANTLY, AND IT WILL TAKE UP AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF CHAKRA. AFTER YOU REGAIN IT HOWEVER, YOU WILL HAVE BOTH YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF CHAKRA AND THE AMOUNT YOU HAD BEFORE THE MERGING, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY ON YOUR BODY." Naruto made a face, remembering the disturbing pictures Tsunade had once shown him in an attempt to make him more cautious with his chakra. The pictures showed people who had channeled too much chakra into one area of their body, with disastrous results. Tsunade had shown him pictures of people who had blown their own leg off, more who had blown off most of their arms, and even one poor bastard who had tried to channel extra chakra into his ears in an attempt to rid himself of his deafness. The picture Tsunade had shown him had shown a head that looked like someone had taken a spoon and carved out a section, like an ice cream scoop. The rounded 'bowl' of skull that was left was blackened and fragile, barely containing the soup of brains and blood left in it.

"What you I _do, _then??" Naruto asked, very unsettled. Those people had just channeled too much chakra into one part of their bodies – what would it look like if his _entire body_ was overloaded with chakra?!

"YOU SEAL YOUR CHAKRA," Kyuubi said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Naruto did his best to glare at the fox, but it was a hard thing to do considering Kyuubi didn't have a physical body to glare at.

"And how do you suggest I do that?" Naruto said fiercely. His moods were changing quickly, although he was nearly in a state of shock. The quick changes were helping to keep him stable, a little.

"FINE," Kyuubi grumbled. "WHAT I MEANT, REALLY, WAS TO SEAL YOUR CHAKRA IN AN OBJECT." Naruto was silent, urging him to explain. "LIKE THAT OLD WOMAN'S NECKLACE OR SOMETHING. YOU CAN DRAIN OFF YOUR EXTRA CHAKRA AND STORE IT."

"But wouldn't it keep coming back?"

"YES. BUT IT WILL TAKE A _LONG_ TIME TO COME BACK, AND FOR A WHILE AFTER THIS JUTSU YOU'LL HARDLY HAVE ANY CHAKRA—BY YOUR STANDARDS, ANYWAY. BUT I THINK YOU'LL BE NEEDING TO USE SOME PRETTY HIGH-LEVEL JUTSU TO…OH, SAY…KILL OROCHIMARU. AT THE RATE YOU USE UP CHAKRA, YOU MIGHT EVEN HAVE TOO LITTLE."

"I think…I get what you're saying."

"GOOD," Kyuubi said. "NOW COME ON. WE'VE SPENT ENOUGH TIME IN THIS HELL-HOLE." (3)

Naruto stood up in the ball of chakra, ignoring everything around him and focusing only on the jutsu he was about to do. The handsigns appeared in his mind's eye, courtesy of Kyuubi, and he gaped. It had to be the longest and most complex jutsu he had ever seen in all his thirty-five years of life. He started to form the seals with a practiced ease, his eyes screwed up in concentration as he dug inside himself. Finally, he found what he was looking for. In his mind's eye he saw a pulsing blue light laced with thick veins of brilliant red and many thin tendrils of mesmerizing violet. It was suspended in an infinite dark space, emitting a soft, pearly white glow that barely pierced the shadows around it. Naruto felt himself reach out, though not in a physical sense. A small hot-yet-cold sensation brushed at the edge of his consciousness. He reached out again, and this time was overtaken by the feeling. He pulled, hard, despite the growing sensation going from a dull ache to a fierce, stabbing pain. He felt a strange tug in his chest, allowing a gasp to escape his lips even as his hands still wove the handsigns. He pulled again with all the strength he could find within him, not even pausing to wonder how he knew what he was doing.

The mass of energy gave a little, but did not budge. It was like trying to pry a bottle of sake from Tsunade's hands when she was drunk. He yanked again, feeling a little more give this time. He readied himself, gathering all the strength he never new had had in him. He had to hurry—his body had almost finished the handsigns. With a final, almighty tug just as the last handsign was formed, the strange globe of colored light gave a last, flickering flare of protest before it came loose and shot out of the white space within the realm of shadow, streaking through the dark world faster than physically possible. Naruto's mouth fell open in a silent scream as he lost control of his body and fell limp. The chakra sphere around his body dissipated, and his corpse began its long fall to the chaos below.

He felt a warm, tremendous presence in the back of his mind step up into his place and firmly guide the mass of energy out of the black world. Naruto was startled to feel himself be pulled along with it. The warm, firm presence (that gave Naruto the distinct impression of the color red) approached him even as it called him to itself, and soon he was wrapped in warmth. Only when he was warm again did he realize how terribly, awfully cold he had been as he had soared through the seemingly infinite black space. He was now barely aware of what was going on around him, but he was able to hear a rumbling, magnificent voice echo through the world.

"**HIJITSU: KOKONTOUZII NO ARUKI! (SECRET ART: TIME WALK!)**" the Kyuubi bellowed.

Naruto was aware of a vast, blinding whiteness, and he heard the Kyuubi's voice one last time before the world disappeared.

"HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?"

When it was aware again, it couldn't do anything. There were so many conflicting sensations at once; no human could possibly even hope to scrape the surface of it in their wildest dreams. It felt absolutely nothing at all, and felt everything at the same time.

It could see nothing, yet it could see all the colors that had been named and thousands that hadn't; it could see shapes and blinding light and consuming darkness, so much it couldn't even comprehend.

It could hear nothing; it could hear the most beautiful and musical voices and sounds that if they spoke, it would obey whatever they told it with no question. It heard the most awful, terrible, frightening sounds and shrieks and screams that made it want to rebel against them with every single existing fiber of its being. There were sounds of loud explosions and what it could only described as something that in another universe could be compared to metal scraping against glass.

It could taste nothing. It could taste the most heavenly things it'd never experienced in its life, and the most awful and putrid substances that made its nonexistent mouth burn and water.

It wasn't aware of any scent of anything at all. It smelled the most beautiful aromas that made every other beautiful thing it'd ever smelled before seem like the devil's brew in comparison; it smelled what made it stop dead and try its best to block it out but it _couldn't_ because it was so horribly, wretchedly _awful_.

Numbness overtook it, and it felt nothing at all. It felt the most exquisitely wonderful sensations through a body it no longer had, and it wanted to scream with just the immense pleasure. It was soft and warm and cool and every wonderful feeling it had experienced coupled with everything it hadn't. It felt the most intense pain it had ever felt in the entire world, a burning, shooting, stinging, aching, freezing, mind-numbing _agony_.

It could feel nothing in its heart or soul. It could feel everything it'd ever felt magnified hundreds of thousands of times and so much more. It felt an immense sense of belonging, that it was so right in its place in the world that to leave would be a sin worthy of hell. It felt an immense sense of relief that threatened to smother it. There was tremendous _joy _and _happiness_ welling up within it that even the most wicked of hearts would drown in. It felt a sense of pride, confidence and hope that it would've faced the entire world without fear. It felt peace of such depth and intensity that it wouldn't have moved an inch if the entirety of existence were crumbling down around it. It felt an intense sadness that would've made the world weep for eternity if it were shared among all its people. It felt a fury unparalled by that felt by any mortal, a fury whose very existence should have reigned down fire from the heavens. It felt despair, such an immense lack of hope that it was paralyzed by it. It felt guilt, like the blame for every single negative thing that had, was, and ever would occur was resting entirely on its shoulders. It felt grief; a sense of loss so wretchedly awful that it seemed _nothing_ could ever possibly be close to as horrible as it felt now. It felt a loneliness of such magnitude it seemed that the whole of the universe was completely and utterly _empty_ and everything was filled to the brim with an infinity of dense nothingness except for _it_…and there was so much more it would never be able to name.

It felt everything in between the extremes. Every single sensation, sight and sound; every single smell, taste and emotion. There was light disappointment, the smell and rich taste of chocolate, a mild tone of yellow. There was a slight chill, a dimly lit corridor, the sound of bells; the cool, hard feel of metal beneath callused fingers. Rough, rowdy laughter and the smell of alcohol; the fresh smell that came during rain, and the crinkle of paper as it burned in dancing orange, red, and blue flames. It felt _everything_.

It did not move. It simply was there, feeling all the tastes and hearing the smells and seeing all the emotions. It was merely a conduit for all these things, feeling them all and by experiencing them proving their existence. Its own existence was merely to confirm the existence of all this, this…_sensation. _It was the only purpose of this being which it was barely conscious of as being separate and infinity lesser than the world of sensation it inhabited.

"_**STOP**_." He stopped. In faster than an instant everything was gone as if it was never there, ripped from him by this terribly strange yet familiar voice that was beautiful and awful in it's own way. He was now 'he', not just a barely conscious presence meant to feel the weight of everything and nothing and powers beyond…his…comprehension. He felt absolutely nothing at all, could only hear this voice throughout him and echoing in the very core of his soul, and was inexplicably drawn to it…unable to do anything but obey it…

"_**COME.**_"

He did.

All he knew was pain. It had gone past numbing a long ways back, and was now agony of such intensity that even primal instinct shrank and died in its presence. It felt as if all the torture experts in the world were doing their worst on him at the same time, and then the fires of hell were summoned up to do their bit. It tore through all his nerves and set his blood on fire; it was as if pain itself was being _branded_ into his skull, and all his bones were being broken and ground to powder and melted into a whole again and pulled out of his body and shoved back in. It was as if all his blood had been replaced by acid. He felt absolutely nothing _but_ pain. All he could do…was scream.

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage was in his office, meeting with the two Academy teachers of this year's graduating class. Even though the genin test was still several days away, it didn't hurt to plan ahead. He and the two teachers – Umino Iruka and Kakuyo(4) Mizuki – were going over a list of the students, trying to decide what the team arrangements should be. That is, until they felt an enormous wave of chakra pass over them. They all froze, even the Hokage. They had felt this chakra once before…but it couldn't be. The seal couldn't have broken, could it?

They were all ripped from their thoughts when, not even a moment after the enormous wave of chakra, a long, blood-chilling scream was heard throughout Konoha; it was a scream made only by those who were feeling the epitome of true suffering. They all leapt into action, blurring out of normal sight as they raced out the room. The Hokage was shouting orders and calling for the Anbu as he ran, and soon a huge mass of shinobi were converging on the source of the chakra and the scream; Naruto's apartment.

The Anbu entered first, and confusedly summoned the Hokage in as they confirmed there was no danger. There, sprawled on the floor, was a twelve-year-old Naruto. His eyes were wide and unseeing, and a small trail of drool ran from the corner of his open mouth onto the floor. He was lying in a large pool of blood, and there was blood all over him. He was drenched in it, and it was beginning to dry on his clothes and skin. Several Anbu were standing around the boy in a circle, some pointing their swords at him and some with their hands poised in a handsign, ready to release jutsu at the first sign of trouble. The old Hokage crouched near Naruto, body tense. One of his wrinkled hands grasped the bottom of Naruto's bloody once-orange jacket, pulling it and his damp black undershirt up to look at the Kyuubi seal. It was visible, but nothing other than that. What was really interesting was the circle of pale scar tissue on the left side of Naruto's chest, standing out even underneath the blood that had soaked through the boy's clothes. Small, jagged lines of scar tissue extend out from the circle like a child's drawing of the sun. Everyone who could see it tensed; what could have given the child a scar like that?

"Naruto?" the Sandaime said. "Naruto, can you hear me?" Naruto remained motionless. The Hokage ordered one of the Anbu to pick up the blond and carry him to the hospital.

"What's his condition?" was the first thing Naruto heard, though it barely registered. His eyelids felt heavy, and his body was one gigantic ache. He couldn't find the strength to move. So he didn't, listening dazedly to the conversation being held a few feet from him.

Naruto heard some sounds of rustling paper, and then, "His chakra system was damaged rather badly, but the…fox is taking care of that with a little help from one of our experts. Our expert identified a foreign chakra in his system, but we will be unable to tell whether it is only the Kyuubi's or something else until his chakra system has healed sufficiently. There is also that strange scar on his chest, the origins of which we were unable to determine. There was a matching scar on his back, only larger. It was directly aligned with the scar on his front, which leads us to believe whatever gave him that scar went all the way through." More shuffling of paper. "There was also a strange sort of tattoo on the back of his neck. It greatly resembles a handprint. It's very strange…it appears black at first sight, but on closer inspection and at different angles and lights it holds all the colors of the known spectrum. We were unsure what to make of it." There was some more rustling and then a soft thump. The person murmured an apology and began to speak again after Naruto heard the rustle of clothes.

"He has suffered severe mental stress, the origins of which are also unknown. The fox is healing that, too. None of us are seal masters though, so you will need to check to make sure seal is fully intact."

From the way the woman talked, Naruto figured he was in a medical facility. That explained why he was on a comfortable bed at least. And the position he was in; he was lying on his back, his legs straight and his arms lying palm down at his sides. "All right, thank you." Naruto's eyes widened as he heard a familiar voice. Was that…Sandaime?!

He didn't have time to ponder this new revelation, as he felt cloth move up over his stomach and chest. Naruto felt a warm hand press flat on his stomach, and his body involuntarily spasm as chakra was pushed into the seal. He felt the chakra flow lessen, then increase at a far slower pace than before. After a moment the chakra flow stopped altogether, and he heard a voice he hadn't heard in years before now say, "The seal is completely intact. Nothing's wrong with it." There was a relieved sigh. "When do you think he'll be waking up?"

The woman answered, still sounding rather relieved, "Fairly soon, Hokage-sama. Normally, the type of mental stress he was subjected to might drive him insane, but…_that_ _thing_ is helping his recovery greatly. It probably helped protect him from a bit of the damage as it happened, as well."

"You said earlier that you couldn't determine what happened to him. Do you at least have some idea?" the Hokage asked.

"You'll have to ask Dr. Sanada. She's the one in charge of him," the woman replied, and he heard more rustling paper.

"Could you please fetch the doctor for me, Kisa-san?" the old Hokage asked kindly.

Naruto heard a, "Yes, Hokage-sama," before the sounds of soft footsteps and a door being opened and closed quietly. Then more rustling as the Hokage sat down heavily in a chair. He heard a sigh before relative quiet took over, interrupted only by the Hokage's occasional movements and a loud bang that sounded like it was in a different part of the building.

After a few moments of sitting there motionless, Naruto finally found the strength to open his eyes. Then he opened his mouth, and he managed to rasp, "O…jii…san…?" Almost instantly the Hokage was at his side, his dark brown eyes shining with concern.

"Ah, so you're awake, Naruto?" the Hokage said in a soft, soothing voice. "Are you feeling well?" he said, putting a wrinkled old hand on Naruto's arm. Naruto stared at the Hokage, analyzing him, almost as if he was afraid he wasn't real.

"What…happened to me?" 'It… worked? I can't believe it, it _worked!_' Naruto thought excitedly. Though it was a sort of hollow excitement, as that was all he felt. There was only one emotion running through him at a time along with his conscious thoughts, as if his subconscious decided he couldn't handle any more than that. The Sandaime gained a slightly puzzled look.

"I was hoping you could tell us, Naruto. The medics have been unable to figure out what happened to you." The Hokage paused. "Do you remember what happened before you became unconscious?" the Sandaime asked seriously. Naruto schooled his face into a slightly puzzled expression. His emotion switched to nervousness.

"I was just about to make myself some ramen, when suddenly…I got this really weird feeling." Naruto said, praying the Sandaime would buy his excuse. "It was kind of right here," he said as he lifted an arm and placed it on his belly, right where the seal was. "And then…I remember seeing black. That's it," he concluded, trying to keep the nervousness from his voice. He chanced a look at the Sandaime, and saw his face was showing relief and concern, with other emotions hidden underneath. He saw the fear, apprehension, confusion…Naruto was a shinobi, one who had managed to live to a ripe old age of thirty-six despite the dangers of the job and the fact that, on top of _normal_ dangers, he had a whole organization of S-Class criminals out to get him. 'Nice try, ojiisan, but you're not gonna fool me. Not the new me…or…the old me. Or the new and the old me…whatever me I am now.' He gave up on identifying exactly what he was now, as it was just getting him confused. He went back to observing the Sandaime, who looked like he was about to say something.

"That's too bad," Sandaime said. Then he smiled. "I am glad you're all right, though, Naruto." At that moment, someone knocked on the door. "That must be Dr. Sanada." The Hokage slowly got up, then patted Naruto's arm and said, "I am going to go talk to the doctor now. You'll be all right on your own, I assume?" Naruto nodded weakly. The Sandaime smiled at him and went out the door, shutting it as he said, "You are Sanada-san, are you not?"

Naruto laid in his bed, not even bothering to listen to the conversation outside. 'Hey, Kyuubi…' he called out mentally. 'You there…?' He listened in growing worry for a moment, but no reply came. 'That's right!' he suddenly thought. 'I won't be able to talk to Kyuubi until he fully merges.' Naruto felt relief wash over him.

At that moment, the Hokage came back in, smiling in that grandfatherly way of his.

"Well, Naruto, it seems you're fairly lucky. You'll be kept overnight, and you'll most likely be able to attend classes tomorrow morning." Naruto turned his head a bit to the side so he could see the Sandaime better, and returned the old man's smile with one of his own. "Now, if there's anything you need, please tell one of the medics. Feel free to ask for me if you need me." And with that and a "Don't strain yourself," the old Hokage left. Naruto looked at the door for a moment with blank eyes. He turned his head back so he was looking at the ceiling, and his vision blurred as he started to cry joyful tears.

It was all so much to take in. Sarutobi was alive, and all his friends were alive, and_Sasuke could still be saved_. Everyone…_everyone_… was alive, and Konoha was standing again, and he knew what to do this time, and he could _fix everything_. It was all too good to be true. He jaw hurt from smiling so much and tears were streaming down his face and his body ached, but none of it mattered because everything would be all right.

'They're all alive…here…now…' he thought as his smile weakened. And with that thought came a horrible realization, one that made it seem impossible he had been so incredibly happy seconds before. 'Now…but what about in my past? This world's… future…?' he thought, and his tears changed to ones of sorrow as they poured down his cheeks. His friends…they did _die_. He hadn't been able to save them. The people they were, their personalities and who they had become…they were not the people that were alive now, and probably never would be. He cried silently, still having trouble taking in everything that had happened to him. His earlier joy had been the results of not thinking about the truth that he had to face. He was thinking that everyone was alive again…but everyone he had ever known or cared about was dead, and even though they were alive now, in this time, it wasn't the same. _They_ weren't the same. He cried for what seemed like years, until he had no more tears left. His eyes burned, and his body ached, and he was still shaking from silent sobs. And what made this sadness even more awful was that there was absolutely no one to comfort him. He had gotten used to having the Kyuubi around, a constant presence in his mind that would remain when everyone else had faded or died. But now the fox was gone, merging with its past self and there was no human to comfort him in its stead…he couldn't exactly tell anyone that he had come from twenty-four years into the future where everyone was dead and the whole world was destroyed: they'd lock him in a mental institution. (And no doubt the villagers would have a party.)

He lay there on the disgustingly clean hospital bed in the sickeningly white hospital room in Konoha's horridly under-staffed hospital. More tears came to his eyes as he remembered Tsunade, who had organized a program to educate medic-nins and get more funds and supplies for the hospital. He remembered the woman who had been like a mother and a sister to him. He remembered how she had died proudly, fighting until the very last. She was the one who had given Orochimaru the final blow…but even as he fell, she fell with him, a sword plunged all the way through the top of her head by Kabuto, who had snuck up behind her. The grey-haired medic-nin was killed soon after by Jiraiya, who fought through his fatigue and slaughtered the traitor easily in his rage. In turn, Jiraiya collapsed not too long after, having used up every drop of chakra in his system to ensure Orochimaru's right-hand man couldn't possibly survive.

Naruto brought an unsteady hand up to his chest, laying it down on the spot where Tsunade's necklace has rested since the day he had won it from her. His eyes widened when his fingers were met with nothing but cloth, and he groped around for the necklace, slightly panicked. He froze when he realized he didn't have it anymore, and he wouldn't for a long time. He closed his eyes and silently (and fervently) apologized to the medic-nin-turned-Hokage. 'Speaking of medic-nins…' he thought. 'What did the one talking to Ojiisan mean about a scar?' He pulled up his shirt and felt around, freezing as he felt the all-too-familiar texture of scar tissue beneath his fingertips. It was on the left side of his chest, very close to his heart.

'It couldn't be…' he thought, horrified. 'It couldn't be…' he repeated in his head. '…Chidori?!' he realized in shock. How could the scar have possibly come with him? He had no idea…He had gotten the scar at the battle of the Valley of the End, when Sasuke had plunged the Chidori through his chest. The Kyuubi had started healing while Sasuke's arm was still in buried in his chest and charged with chakra, and somehow Sasuke's chakra had gotten into his system; Naruto's unique, slightly demonic chakra had had a strange reaction with Sasuke's (the Kyuubi had spent a good deal of time a few years later explaining all this to Naruto). The Kyuubi had healed him, but a scar had remained.

His eyes widened. He didn't have Tsunade's necklace anymore…When she had discovered his ailment, she had turned the Shodaime's necklace into a charm to control and isolate the foreign chakra in his body. He didn't have it anymore…but he still had the scar. Crap.

His eyebrow twitched, and he sighed. He'd just have to deal with it tomorrow…but tonight, he was tired. His eyelids had been drooping ever since the Sandaime left, and all the stress he was putting himself through wasn't helping. He'd just sleep, regain his strength…and face tomorrow when it came.

**Chapter One: End**

**Author's Notes**

1. This quote kind of came from Lord of the Rings; it's not an exact quote (what with the fact it says Kyuubi), but this is what I remember Frodo saying to Sam on Mount Doom when they had just destroyed the One Ring (I capitalize that 'cause I felt like it).

2. I think this is the name of the leader of the Akatsuki, but I'm working with limited information. I am uninformed in some aspects of the Narutoverse, but that allows me to put more of my own stuff in rather than completely conforming to canon. I'm working with what I've got, so for those nit-picky people…find something else to pick at.

3. I know! All that was really cheesy and stuff and you guys are probably going "WTF??", but know that I tried to make it as painless as possible! I did my best to give you a good introduction without boring you too much, so I moved through it kind of quickly. I did my best to give it a good balance between not-too-boring and not-too-rushed, so I hope you can tolerate it. Also, I stole the 'kit' thing from other fanfics. I liked the sound of it.

4. I can't remember Mizuki's actual surname, sooo…I made one up. Which you were hopefully able to figure out. Hopefully.


	2. Here But Gone

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto Sasuke wouldn't have deserted, terrible things would happen to Orochimaru on a routine basis, and Naruto wouldn't be such a terrible dunce.

**Chapter 2: Here But Gone**

Sanada Hiruko was a fair woman. At least, she liked to think so, and she was fairer than most of the general human populace. She didn't like to judge people from what she'd heard or where they were from or who their family was. She made an effort to not form any opinion of a person until they met in person, or she got information from a reliable source that was not just another person's opinion. That was why, of any other doctor the head-of-hospital could have assigned, _she_ was chosen to look after Uzumaki Naruto, a.k.a the fox-brat. She didn't complain, even though she knew what he really was. But she _wanted_ to complain, especially after completing the examination. He had his own chakra, the Kyuubi's chakra, and another chakra in his system; only it was still his. It was as if his own chakra had been split in two, had a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra added, and then a bit of foreign lightning natured chakra added to the mix to spice things up a bit. The third, combined chakra was smaller than Naruto's and more chaotic than the Kyuubi's, and it was baffling her. She decided to leave it out in her report to the Hokage, because really, it was impossible! And after she reported to the Hokage, she was going to go ask her boss for a _long_ vacation…

_Fire fell from the sky in the shape of raindrops, falling onto the flat, grey stone ground and on his skin. The drops didn't burn, and instead warmed his skin where they touched it, then fizzled into nothing. The ground was unscathed as well. He danced in it, in this un-burning fire. He stopped when he heard a scream. He turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw Konoha burning behind him. Tsunade was suddenly in front of him, telling him to stop. He tried to ask her what she was talking about, but he found he couldn't speak. Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Iruka appeared behind her chanting for him to stop and staring at him. They all had holes in their chests where their hearts should have been, but no blood flowed out. Tsunade's necklace was wrapped tightly around her neck._

_Suddenly the rookie nine and Gai's team appeared, pointing at him and screaming unintelligible words. Soon, though, he could make out their words to be 'monster' and 'demon'. All of them were missing their eyes, their empty sockets glowing red. Everyone was dressed as he knew them he was twelve; everyone but Sasuke. He was charging at him in the outfit he had taken to wearing after Orochimaru's training, and his Sharingan eyes were blazing, three tomoe spinning wildly in each eye. He stopped right in front of him, the tip of his sword centimeters from Naruto's throat. The two former friends stood there as the screaming from the village and the genin echoed around them. Then the screams and echoes suddenly came together into a single, terrible, blood-chilling scream whose echoes alone sounded like more awful screams themselves. And suddenly, it all stopped. _

_Naruto looked out, spotting a slim blond man in place of Konoha and the people he knew. He had been in the distance when he first saw him, but suddenly Naruto found himself right in front of the man. The mysterious man paid no attention to him though, as if he weren't even there. The world had turned into a pure white space, and they were standing even though there was no surface to set their feet on. The strange person was holding a light grey bundle of cloth wrapped around something Naruto couldn't identify from his current angle. He dipped the bundle down as if he was performing some strange dance, but as he brought the bundle back up again, his arm kept extending up; the bundle rocketed into the sky and the blond man was suddenly gone. The bundle seemed to hang in midair, and Naruto suddenly found himself next to the bundle and slowly leaning over to look. _

_In the bundle, he saw…something that could only be described as a monster._(1)

Naruto jerked into an upright position, his mouth open in a silent scream. His hands were weakly clenching the thin white sheets the hospital provided, and his bedclothes were clinging to his sweaty body. He sat for a moment with his mouth and eyes wide, then gasped and breathed in much-needed air. He was hyperventilating, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly with each breath. He heard a loud, frequent beeping along with a louder thumping in his ears going at the same tempo, and his eyes landed on a machine that he knew was a heart monitor. His brain didn't have time to register the fact before the door burst open, letting in a short, dark-haired woman and the Hokage.

"Are you all right?" Sandaime asked him as they hurried to his bedside. The woman was putting two fingers on his neck, and he almost shied away from her touch. After a couple seconds she gathered healing green chakra around her other hand and laid it on his chest. He heard the pounding in his ears recede, and the tension in his chest lessoned. He let loose a sigh, and allowed himself to be helped back onto the bed.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" she said, not unkindly. She looked harried, with dark circles around her eyes that reminded him slightly of Gaara. He dark hair was piled into a simple bun atop her head, but several clumps of hair were falling out of it, including one lock of hair that hung stubbornly just over her left eye.

"Yeah," he said tiredly. The Hokage's worried face disappeared, and he made a motion towards the open door. Naruto could hear someone shut it.

"Must have been quite the nightmare, kid," the woman said with wry humor.

"Ah yes," Sandaime cut in. "Naruto, this is your doctor, Sanada Hiruko." He motioned towards the short woman, who bowed and smiled softly at him. He found himself returning her smile with a wide one of his own, just out of habit. He loved it when people smiled at him – it didn't happen very often.

"Kid, I'm rethinking my decision to let you go to the Academy today, but…What do you think? You still wanna go?" she said as she gave the still beeping heart monitor a kick.

Naruto, knowing what was required of him, nodding vigorously and said something that made him strangely nostalgic, "Believe it!"

"All right children," the scarred man said. "Time to take role." He was a man of average height and build, with tanned skin, dark hair and a scar across his nose. "Arume Kishumi," Umino Iruka called. Before the boy named could respond, a pink-haired girl sitting two rows in front of him and three seats to the right cut him off.

"Um, excuse me? Iruka-sensei?" she said. Her hand was in the air, positioned like one who had their hand up a lot; not all the way in the air, and the fingers relaxed. The smart people who answered most of the questions in class also tended to be smart enough to figure out ways so their arms don't get too sore. Haruno Sakura was one of them. "What happened yesterday? We were all told that it wasn't a threat or anything, but what was that…feeling? What was that scream?"

Iruka sighed. "I don't have the clearance to tell you, Sakura. And I'm not entirely sure myself." 'That's not a total lie, but I really don't have the right to tell them,' he added mentally, sneaking a discreet look at Naruto. The blond boy was drooping in his seat, playing with a pen in his hands.

Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes as he caught what Iruka was looking at. What was wrong with the dead-last today? He was hardly talking, and Iruka and Mizuki both kept glancing at him. He glared at the normally boisterous boy, and was startled when said boy brought his head up to stare back at him. His blue eyes held an edge Sasuke hadn't seen before, and he felt himself shiver involuntarily as those impossibly blue eyes seemed to look into his very soul. He felt exposed, and in a totally un-Uchiha-like action, he turned away, unable to face Naruto's gaze. His body relaxed as he felt a sort of pressure lift from him. 'What the hell was that? Is that really the dead-last?' He chanced another look at Naruto, who was back to fiddling with his pen. Sasuke looked to the front of the room, managing to keep his voice normal as he responded to his name being called.

Iruka finished role-call, and went to put the clipboard away as Mizuki took over. "As you all know, tomorrow is the genin exam." Naruto visibly tensed at this. "Today we're going to do something _fun_." The students tensed in anticipation. "A boys vs. girls activity tournament!" This statement was met with blank looks.

Iruka cleared his throat as he came back to the front of the room and said, "That's right, everyone. The boys and girls will be on opposing teams, and will go up against each other in a series of events. This activity will last most of the day, so it will be the only thing we do today."

"Boys on that side of the room, girls over there," Mizuki said, gesturing to each side. "Hurry up everyone, get into your groups." Everyone got up and footsteps and voices filled the room. "Each team pick a captain."

With that statement the voices got louder, and quickly the boys team selected Sasuke (much to Naruto's apparent disappointment). The girls took a little longer, but eventually a green-eyed, white haired girl named Oren was made captain. "Captain's step forward." The black-haired boy and the white-haired girl went to the front of the class and were given sheets of paper by the teachers. They followed the two men out of the room as the rest of the class hurried to catch up, insults flying through the air between the two teams.

The genin were led outside and to a forest, one that they had been in many times before on past Academy trips and activities. "All right everyone," Mizuki said loudly. "Your task is to retrieve an item. Your team captains have each been given a sheet of paper with a…_hint_ at what the item is. Each team must figure out what their item is, obtain that item, and bring it back here and present it to Iruka and myself. You must have your entire team present when you present your object. Whichever team succeeds first wins this round. The team who has won the most activities at the end of the day will receive a special prize." There was some excited murmuring.

"Ready…begin!" Both teams leapt away into the forest, as far from each other as possible.

With the boys

"Stop," Sasuke said quietly. Everyone obeyed almost instantly, even Naruto. Sasuke took the sheet of paper out from his weapons pouch on his leg, unfolding it. He handed the paper to Shikamaru. "Read it," he ordered curtly.

"Huh?" the Nara said slowly. "Maaa…so troublesome," he drawled. Then he looked down at the paper and sighed, then started to read.

"_I lie in wait, on the ground_

_Most anyplace I can be found_

_Sometimes in trees, blending in_

_I'm rarely found among my own kin_

_I see with smell, taste the air_

_Some of me are very rare_

_I've got no hands and no feet_

_To feel my bite is less than a treat."_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Teachers wrote this." Kiba said at last, and everyone nodded reluctantly. "That…is so sad." More nods.

"Any suggestions?" Sasuke said.

"It could be some sort of insect," Shino said, startling everyone.

"It's not bugs," Shikamaru drawled. "If it was, it would be too easy. You would be able to call it to you, and we'd have an unfair advantage over the girls." Everyone reluctantly agreed with this. Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking, but not about what they were supposed to find. Naruto had recovered enough to attend the Academy that day, but his body still ached and he had pushed down the bulk of his emotions until he had some more alone time to control himself. So right now, he was able to think rather clearly about everything that was currently going on, but…he didn't remember this game happening before. The day before the exam, at least the last time he had been twelve, they just did review. How could it be this different? He had hardly done anything yet, how could he have made a change like this? Then it occurred to him. 'I came,' he thought. 'My arrival here. It put me in the hospital, and Mizuki did say we were doing something fun today. So…this is for me?' he concluded. 'Awww…I'm touched.' Then he turned his attention back to the activity just in time for Shikamaru to say, "It's a snake." Naruto tensed. "Think about it. What else fits the whole description? Snakes are found on the ground and in trees, are usually alone, and they smell with their tongues. Some of them are very rare, they don't have limbs, and some of them are poisonous. It all fits," he concluded, yawning.

"It does," Sasuke agreed, barely acknowledging Shikamaru's expert use of logic. "Split up!" he told his team. "If anyone finds a snake, capture it and whistle this tune." Then Sasuke whistled, first a long, high note, followed by two low notes, the former lower than the latter. "Everyone got it?" The boys nodded. "Good. Break!"

With the girls

"Alright, who wants to read it? Ah, thank you for volunteering, Sakura. Here," Oren said as she handed the other girl the paper. All the girls were clustered in a tight circle on the forest floor, and two girls were keeping watch for boys as the others focused on the paper and the pink-haired girl holding it. Sakura read the poem, and there was a moment of unbroken silence. The girls were disturbed from their silent horror at the lameness of their clue by the sound of a breaking tree limb in the distance.

"So…" Ino said. "This was written by the teachers, right?" Everyone, including the sentries, nodded. "Men," she scoffed. Everyone shook their heads at the pitiful opposite gender.

"Um…" Oren began. "Anyone got any ideas?" This time they all shrugged. "Damn. Let's brainstorm," she said, pulling out a small, blank scroll and a pen. "Any ideas?"

"Spiders!" suggested a girl with short blond hair and rectangular glasses. "Some of them are poisonous, and they can be found on the ground and in the trees, and you usually find them alone."

"Yeah, but they've got legs," interjected a girl with a too-large shirt.

"But not feet! And they don't have hands," a girl with a sword strapped to her back pointed out.

"Okay, okay! I'll write spiders down. Any other ideas?" Oren said, not wanting her team to get out of hand. Silence met her question. It was broken by the rustling of leaves, and the two sentries pointed their weapons at the source of the sound while the other girls had their hands hovering near their weapons. A female voice came through the bushes, saying, "B-boys suck."

All the girls relaxed, recognizing the password and the voice (and stuttering) of their spy. "Jeeze, Hinata, don't scare us like that," said a girl with a red, blotchy birthmark on one side of her face. Hinata stuttered an apology.

"So?" said Ino. "What did you find out?" Hinata mumbled something.

"Speak up, Hinata," Oren said in an authoritative voice.

"The b-boys figured o-out it's a snake," she stuttered.

"How did they figure it out before us? They're boys!"

"Who cares, let's go!"

"Stop!" Oren said loudly. Then she addressed Hinata again. "Hinata, could you use your Byakugan to find a snake?" Hinata blushed and nodded, forming a handsign.

"Byakugan!" she said quietly. The veins around her eyes bulged and an outline of a pupil appeared in each of her pale irises. The girls waited for a moment, and Hinata released her Byakugan. She turned and pointed. "There's one in ab-bout…thirty-six meters in t-that direction." The Hyuuga heiress blushed as the other girls complimented her. Everyone moved towards the direction Hinata had seen the snake. She activated her Byakugan again when they got there and pointed to the snake, unwilling to pick it up to herself. Oren went over and carefully picked up the snake, quickly grabbing its head in a way that it couldn't bite her.

"All right girls," she said, smirking (in an eerily Sasuke-ish way). "Let's move out!"

With the boys

The boys were not having much luck. "Look, maybe we should just use a genjutsu on a stick and show them that. We're not going to find anything." The speaker was a tall boy with short, dirty blond hair and dirty clothes. He had fallen in a mud pit while searching for a snake.

The boys had started out searching alone or in pairs, but after hearing all the screams and breaking branches and whatnot, Sasuke had whistled to gather the boys and had had them search in a group. Then, at least, they could get help from each other if harm befell any of them.

"They're chunin! They'd be able to detect it easily. Plus, this isn't the only event today," said a short boy with messy hair that fell into his eyes.

"Hyutsuko's right. We'll have more chances to beat the girls." Naruto listened exasperatedly as an argument broke out. He knew the scent of snakes, and could sniff one out easily, but…should he? Kiba hadn't been able to; he didn't know what snakes smelled like. Maybe he should let it bite him or something so it looked like finding it was an accident? He mentally sighed, deciding on his course of action. He meandered over to the base of a large tree, and started groping around in between the roots (which were partially above ground) while the boys' shouts filled his ears. His fingers brushed against scales, and his reflexes made him grab the snake before his brain could catch up. He pulled the snake out, a slightly sadistic smile on his face as he felt it squirm. He hated snakes – he blamed Orochimaru.

Naruto held the snake up in front of him, squatting on the ground with his free hand resting on his leg. The snake was long and black, staring at him hatefully with yellow eyes. The end of its tail rested on the forest floor, and he glared back at it while he wondered whether it was poisonous or not. Kyuubi could handle most poisons, but they hurt for some reason… As Shikamaru would say, 'How troublesome…'

"Oi, Naruto!" Naruto tensed when he heard Kiba's voice, almost dropping his snake. "You found one?" Naruto took a deep breath, and his brain kicked into overdrive.

"You bet I did!" he said loudly, jumping to his feet and brandishing the snake at Kiba. "Pretty nice one, huh?" he said, holding the snake out to show Kiba. He had changed his grip so he was holding it around the middle, something the snake had noticed (as did he; he did it intentionally). Naruto yelped as he felt the snake's fangs sink into his arm, and he dropped it on the ground as he clutched at his arm. It began to slither away, until it was snatched up by Sasuke (and held in the correct position).

"Hn. Dead-last," Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto glared at him, or at least appeared to. He was actually glaring at the snake, even though he knew (and had counted on the fact) that it would bite him. He _really_ didn't like snakes.

Sasuke whistled, and all the boys turned to him. Their eyes widened when they saw the snake, and – coming to the obvious conclusion – they immediately started congratulating him. Naruto gaped, and started cursing under his breath.

'That's Sasuke, all right,' he thought in a mixture of annoyance and nostalgia. 'Just as much of a bastard as ever.'

The boys arrived at the end of the forest just in time to see Oren hand a grey-brown snake to Mizuki, who quickly ran it through his hands (careful not to let it bite him). There was a figurative black cloud over the boys' heads as they trudged over to Iruka and Sasuke handed him the black snake. The two teachers switched snakes, and after both teachers had checked both snakes, the two chunin stood up from their perches on a pile of boulders.

"The winner for this round is the girls team!" Iruka announced with a smile while Mizuki wrote something down on a clipboard. The boys visibly drooped. "We will now move on to the next event. Follow us," he said as he started walking back towards the Academy, Mizuki following close behind. The ninja-in-training exchanged looks and followed their teachers back to the building. They were led into a classroom and told to sit down, girls on the left, boys on the right. At the front of the class was a large sheet of paper. Drawn on it was a grid, with the top row reading things such as "Ninkai Wars", "Strategy and Tactics", and more. Under each heading was a column of numbers, going from 100 all the way to 600. Two cardboard boxes sat on the ground in front of the grid.

"Well class, I think most of you have probably already guessed what we're doing. For those who haven't," Mizuki gave Naruto and a few others a meaningful look, "We will be doing a quiz game!"

"Here I have two boxes of kunai. Each team will get a box. In the girls' box, the wrapping around the kunai have been dyed red. The boys' kunai have blue. Team captains, please come get your teams' kunai." Oren and Sasuke complied. "Teams will take turns answering questions. You will also rotate within teams for whose turn it is to answer questions. Whoever is up will take one of their team's kunai and throw it at the board. Whatever numbered box it lands in is the question you answer. If you don't hit a number, your team loses its turn. Aiming at the specific sections and numbers wouldn't hurt you either. You may consult your team when answering questions. You have a certain amount of time for each question, and if you exceed your time limit, the other team may try to answer the question. The topics are at the top of the grid, and all numbers under the heading are questions on that topic. The higher the number in the box, the harder the question, and the more points you get for a correct answer. We will end the game when it is time for lunch or when there are no more questions left.

"Any questions about the activity?" he finished, surveying the students. Some looked confused, others exasperated, and a few were excited. "Good. The girls will go first, since they won the last event."

The girls huddled together for a moment, and then Sakura stepped forward. She took a kunai from the box, aimed, and threw it at the board. It landed with a soft thunk in the '300' box under the heading 'Tools of the Trade'.

Iruka went through a stack of cards in his hands, taking one out and looking at it. "Tools of the Trade for 300," he read. "You are facing seven opponents and have three kunai. You can only use kunai to defeat you enemy. What is the most efficient way to use your resources?" Sakura turned back to her team, whispered something in Oren's ear, and turned back to the front when the white haired girl nodded.

"Charge the enemy and cut them with the kunai, only throwing them when necessary. Retrieving thrown kunai is advisable, if at all possible," she said confidently, beaming when Iruka said her answer was correct. For their turn, the boys chose Sasuke as their first representative. He threw one of his team's kunai, and Iruka went through the cards again. "Poisons and Cures for 400," Iruka said, glancing at the card. "What three plants should be mixed together to counteract the Motomori Poison? List what parts of each plant need to be used as well."

Sasuke readily answered, "Oleander root, Sword-Salal stem, and the leaves from a Nerutho plant.(2)" Iruka confirmed his answer, and the Uchiha stepped down wearing a light smirk.

The game went on relatively calmly with a few questions missed and the options decreasing more and more with each turn. Things got interesting when it was Naruto's turn. Naruto reached into the boys' kunai box, which held significantly fewer weapons than what it had at the beginning. Naruto took aim, and released the kunai. It landed on a 200 box under Village History, burying itself into the board next to a red-wrapped kunai. "Hm…" Iruka said slowly. "We haven't had this before. How about we just let him try again?" he suggested, looking to Mizuki for conformation. He turned to the grid upon receiving it and yanked the blue-wrapped kunai out of the board, handing it back to Naruto. Naruto took aim again, and this time the kunai landed under Strategy and Tactics…for 600.

Naruto's mouth was drawn into a tight line and one of his eyebrows was twitching slightly, but inwardly he was laughing his head off. They should see the looks on their faces! He would be having trouble breathing if that were an issue for his inner self. His sides did hurt, however, from the effort of holding in his laughter.

"Ahem," Mizuki cleared his throat and quickly sifted through the remaining cards. "Strategy and Tactics for 600. Your mission is to retrieve a rare artifact for the collection of a wealthy businessman. You have one partner. The artifact is in a locked box, which in turn is held in a safe that is deep in the fortress of enemy ninja. How do you accomplish your task?"

Naruto turned back to his team, a look of sheepish worry plastered on his face. Most of his teammates were looking at him as if they thought he might catch fire or something if they glared hard enough. "So…um…" he said as he scratched the back of his head, inwardly congratulating himself on his awesome plan. He would get Shikamaru to show his brain sooner this time around!

"You don't know," Shikamaru drawled.

"Well of course he doesn't, he's an idiot," one of the boys cut in. Shikamaru didn't even bother to look at him.

"No, you don't get it. There's not enough information," Shikamaru elaborated. "You are not told how skilled your partner is, how many or how skilled the enemy ninja are, and you do not know anything about the layout of the fortress. Is it a mansion? A set of connected caves? You don't even know how powerful you are supposed to be in this scenario. Can you send for backup? You just don't _know_," he finished. Naruto mentally cursed. That wasn't genius, that was just common sense. None of the boys looked confused at Shikamaru's explanation, and no one looked at all surprised, either. 'That was a dumb question…' Naruto thought as he mentally pouted.

Naruto turned back towards the front and repeated Shikamaru's answer, faking a wide grin when it was deemed right.

The rest of the game went on without much trouble or interest, and by the time lunch came around, the boys had racked up enough points to win. A few insults, taunts, and bets were exchanged, and everyone ate lunch.

And then came the madness.

"Alright kids, settle down!" Iruka said as the ninja-in-training sat down in their seats. "We're about to start our next activity."

"We are doing…karaoke!" Mizuki said cheerily. His announcement was met with a collection of blank stares. When the students snapped out of their stupor, their reactions were mixed.

Sasuke had fixed the teacher with his patented Uchiha Glare of Pain and Death, occasionally switching the focus of his glare to Naruto – who was laughing and rolling around on the floor – before fixing it on Mizuki again. One of the girls was pointedly waving her sword in the air, screaming derogatory things about Mizuki's mother. Some girls were chattering excitedly, and a good deal of boys looked mildly ill. Oren was dragging the blade of a kunai across the desk, her glare just a couple notches below Sasuke's. Naruto's laughter died down, and he said, gasping, "You really had me there for a moment, Mizuki-sensei…"

Everyone turned to look at Naruto, whose cheeks were red and had a big smile on his face. "What did you say…?" Kiba growled.

Naruto stifled a snicker. Then, "You should see your faces!" Naruto said as he broke into another fit of laughter. To everyone's surprise, Mizuki suddenly burst into smoke. "Ha ha ha ha…!" Naruto's laughter died as he felt the weight of an entire room full of glares bore into the back of his head. He looked up from the ground, and instantly regretted it. "Uhem…can't you guys take a joke? Ah, no, stop!" Naruto shouted as the Wrath of Shinobi Scorned reigned down upon him. At that moment, as if on cue, Mizuki calmly walked into the room.

"What's going on here? All of you, get back to your seats!" he bellowed, brandishing a kunai at them. Everyone, including Naruto (who really shouldn't have been able to get up for at least another couple seconds) was in their seats almost instantly.

"Good. Now let's get started with this activity so we can wrap this up."

In the end, the girls won the tournament. And rubbed it in the guys' faces. A lot. And several girls collected several substantial bets, as did Shikamaru. Genius or not, Naruto hadn't thought he would have so little pride as to bet against his own team. 'Just like old times, though…before the war…' he thought, sitting on top of the Hokage mountain as he watched the last rays of sunlight disappear from the horizon. It was the first time he'd seen the sunset darken Konoha's _whole_ and unbroken buildings in more than eight years.

Chapter Two: End

**Author's Notes**

1.Guah ha ha…lots of symbolism in this dream. The end part about the blond man is slightly stolen from the beginning of my other story, Hang On Until Tomorrow. See if you can figure out the symbolism in this dream. I'd love to hear your take on it.

2. I made up the Nerutho plant and added 'Sword' in front of salal, but Oleanders are actually a type of flower and salal is an actual type of plant. I didn't want to spend too long coming up with three little plants, so sorry if they're not to your satisfaction.


End file.
